Mareel music students launch first recording

Battery Park Records in conjunction with Renemal Productions present an evening of music from Wind-Up Projectiles who are launching their 6 track E.P. An Explosion of Dirty Rhythm on the 25 May in Mareel’s Main Auditorium.

Wind-Up Projectiles comprise young musicians Joe Watt on lead vocals and guitar, Hayden Hook on double bass, Chris Thomson on keys and Lewis Murray on drums. The hip hop / rock crossover group are influenced by musicians including Queens of the Stone Age, Soul Coughing, Cake, Tom Vek, Beck, A Tribe Called Quest and many more New York and LA Hip Hop groups.

You can listen to a preview here www.soundcloud.com/windupprojectiles/an-explosion-of-dirty-rhythm and view a short promo video here www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOdNDM_WjhI

Support will be provided on the night by singer-songwriter Chloe Robertson and Troppo Funk.

Prior to the public concert, there will be an invite only event featuring an acoustic set performed by the band upstairs in Mareel’s Cafe Bar. The band will host a Q&A session, and there will be a talk from Dirk Robertson who created the artwork for the E.P. and from Marjolein Robertson of Maddrim Media about the video for the track Confabulation, which will be premiered on the night.

Wind-Up Projectiles Cover Art - Dirk Robertson

The E.P. artwork by Dirk Robertson

Joe Watt said: “Recording our first E.P. with such a powerful resource base here at Mareel has been a great learning experience and an exciting venture into the inner workings of the UK Music Industry. We’ve all gained so much, it’s difficult to pick out individual things to commend, the whole thing has been bewilderingly awesome.”

The record label and live promotions company, together with video and radio production companies, are a network of projects set up by Shetland College UHI music students studying at Mareel. The aim is to provide a real world commercial environment in which students can record, release and promote recordings and other media under the guidance of Mareel’s lecturers and technical staff. All aspects of the record industry are represented, and profits generated will be reinvested into future student projects.

Bryan Peterson, Course Leader and Shetland Arts Music Development Officer said: “We’re really lucky to have so many talented musicians on the courses, but playing ability is only one aspect of a successful career in music. The students have pulled together a wide range of Creative Industry skills and interests and made the best use of Mareel’s facilities to produce some fantastic quality and interlinked creative projects.”

Battery Park Records is a label run by Peter Keay, Hayden Hook and Patrick Mainland. Between them they fulfil all the roles of a record label – scouting for new talent, recording, mixing and mastering the material, legal and copyright requirements, through to the promotion and distribution stages.

To produce the Wind-Up Projectiles E.P. they had access to Mareel’s recording and multi-media production facilities, including the Pro Tools HD based studio and a range of world class recording spaces, microphones and preamps. The recording sessions were then completed by Chris Thomson at his home studio before coming back to Mareel for final mastering stages. The CD has been printed by local duplication company Cumlie Media, run by Maurice Smith.

Wind-Up Projectiles live

Battery Park Records has several other releases in the pipeline, including recordings made by local traditional and heavy metal groups.

Battery Park Records takes its name from the Royal Navy Reserve gun battery which was based on the site of Mareel during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Fittingly, the 32 pounder cannons were used for training and target practice after being moved from Fort Charlotte due to the “terrible noise”.

Patrick Mainland said: “Being involved in all the functions of a small independent record company has been a rewarding experience for us, and has taught us skills which we can retain and use in further creative industry work. The Battery Park Records project is also a very exciting prospect for the prolific Shetland youth music scene.”

Renemal Promotions is run by Norman Willmore and Max Tyler who have been organising promotional videos, album tasters, posters, flyers and other marketing materials for the album launch events.

Norman Willmore said: “So far the college course has exceeded all my expectations and given me solid real life knowledge of the Creative Industries. I’m looking forward to the E.P. launch and seeing months of hard work pay off.”

Screenhack Media is run by students Damien Calder and Martha Thomson who have produced a promotional video and a ‘making of’ documentary for the E.P. which will be premiered at the launch event. They also plan to release a live music video of the concert.

Damien Calder said: “It’s been a great experience doing this creative project as well as the rest of the HNC Music course. Working with all of the others in the class, and the facilities in Mareel have made for an incredible learning environment. It has provided me with a lot of valuable information that I can apply to things I do outside of college.”

Students recording in Mareel. Photo by Ben Mullay.

Shetland Independent Radio Productions is run by Joseph McCormack, Gwyn Davies and Eamonn Watt. They have produced a number of programmes for 60 North Radio which aim to highlight the diversity of Shetland musicians and provide talented content creators, both up-and-coming and experienced, with a platform to promote their work, discuss their stories and influences and to showcase their work to a wider audience.

Joseph McCormack said: “Getting the opportunity to be involved in real-world radio production has been an exciting and educational experience. The multimedia facilities at Mareel have been enormously useful, and have allowed us to tie our individual projects together to create a microcosmic music industry.”

For more information on the educational activities available at Mareel visit www.mareel.org/learn

The doors for the EP Launch gig open at 8:00pm and the gig starts at 8:30pm. Tickets are £8 flat rate, and are available via Shetland Box Office in Mareel & Islesburgh, over the phone on 01595 745 555, or at www.mareel.org and www.shetlandboxoffice.org

The E.P. will be available to purchase from Mareel & High Level Music